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QB Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers

HT: 6-5, WT: 228, Born: 12-8-1981, College: North Carolina State, Drafted: Round 1, Pick 4

2008 Projections

2007 Game Summaries

Week 1 - Rivers certainly didn't play his best game, but considering the opposition his numbers aren't too shabby. He failed to throw a touchdown pass, but he was close on several occasions. He completed one pass to WR Vincent Jackson that took Jackson down to the two yard line. On another, he fired a pass into the end zone that was intended for Jackson but was batted away at the last moment. It wasn't simply bad luck that prevented Rivers from putting up big numbers, however. He was under a ton of pressure from the Chicago defenders, and rarely had much time to throw. His accuracy was very off early in the game, as he sailed one pass high to LaDainian Tomlinson, and another off-line to Antonio Gates. The interception was also a product of a combination of pressure up front and a very poor decision by Rivers. He was looking for Gates down the seam, but he threw off-balance and sailed the pass high and over the big tight end and into the waiting arms of S Mike Brown. One other aspect of Rivers' performance to watch out for is the actual snap of the ball. On several occasions, it appeared as if the Bears defenders knew the snap count, flying off the line in perfect timing with the snap. This is something Rivers will need to be very wary of in upcoming games, specifically next week against the New England Patriots.

Week 2 - With the running game shut down, it was up to Rivers to get the Chargers back in the game. He managed to complete 19 of 30 for 179 yards and two touchdowns, but threw two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. With New England comfortable ahead in the game, the pass rush was ferocious.

Week 3 - Rivers played an excellent game from a technical standpoint. His passes were, for the most part, crisp and accurate. He hit players perfectly in stride all game long, and really seemed to have a terrific connection with TE Antonio Gates. Rivers' touchdown pass to Vincent Jackson from 27 yards out was a thing of beauty, and he engineered a very efficient two minute drive to close out the first half that resulted in a touchdown pass to rookie Craig Davis. Unfortunately for Rivers, his day didn't finish quite as well as it began. Following an incomplete pass on third down late in the third quarter, Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson were seen shouting at one another on the sideline. Rivers, apparently frustrated with what the star running back had to say, turned and walked away disgustedly. The two were later seen making up, but not quite as demonstratively as they had just been arguing. Later, Rivers sailed another third down pass over the head of Vincent Jackson that allowed Green Bay to get the ball back with a chance to take the lead. They did, on a touchdown to Greg Jennings. Upon taking over possession, Rivers tried forcing a ball over the middle of the field to Tomlinson that was intercepted by LB Nick Barnett that all but finished the game.

Week 4 - Rivers played perhaps his worst game of the season, and arguably one of his worst since becoming the Chargers' starting QB. He started off well enough, as the balanced San Diego offense moved the ball freely and put up 16 first half points. But in the second half, the pressure on Rivers really intensified and he was hurried on nearly every single pass. The offensive line gave him almost no protection, and that was directly responsible for two of his three turnovers. The interception was a case of Rivers being hit as he threw. The announcers speculated that the pass could have and probably should have gone for a long touchdown to Craig Davis, but because Rivers was hit as he attempted the pass, it came out very awkwardly and hung in the air. It was easily picked off by CB Ty Law. Another turnover was the result of a sack and fumble at the hands of Rivers. The fumble was picked up and run the other way 50 yards for the touchdown, and Rivers never really had much of a chance on the play. It wasn't just the pressure on Rivers that caused the poor passes, however. Even when he did have some time to throw, he just looked a bit "off". He never really seemed comfortable in the pocket, as evidenced by three of his passes being batted down at the line of scrimmage in just the first half alone. He also seemed to lock onto his receivers for far too long, allowing the Kansas City defensive backs more than enough time to jump the route and knock the ball away several times. His day could have been salvaged from a fantasy perspective late in the game, but Vincent Jackson dropped a perfectly thrown pass that would have gone for a 45 yard touchdown. Then again, Rivers himself made a critical error later in that drive when he overthrew a wide open Jackson in the end zone on a corner fade pattern. Needless to say, it wasn't a pretty effort by Rivers.

Week 5 - Rivers looked very comfortable all game, and it really showed both in execution and in the stat line. He averaged a whopping 15 yards per attempt and displayed the very nice touch he consistently showed a year ago. Rivers completed a pass early in the second half to WR Vincent Jackson down the seam for a 45 yard gain on second and 33, and later put a pass right on the hands of TE Antonio Gates down the seam. He had earlier made a nice throw on the run in the first half on a pass intended for Jackson in the end zone that the receiver seemingly dropped (it would have been a tough play). He also nearly threw a touchdown pass to Gates, but Gates was tackled down at the two yard line. Fortunately for Rivers owners, he took a naked bootleg around to the right corner for his first career rushing touchdown. He also benefited from a great effort by Gates on the touchdown pass to him. Gates took a short screen and fought off several tacklers on his way to the end zone. Finally, Rivers capped his performance with a touchdown strike to a wide open Jackson on the back line of the end zone. Very unlike the scene several weeks ago when the two were seen arguing on the sideline, in this game both Rivers and RB LaDainian Tomlinson were all smiles on the sideline as the clock was winding down.

Week 6 - Rivers nearly defined the term managing the offense in this game. Aside from one very poor mistake, he pretty much did only what was absolutely necessary and nothing more. That one poor play was extremely bad, because it directly resulted in an Oakland score. Rivers was rolling left and tried to make a nearly impossible pass across his body downfield to Vincent Jackson. Jackson, however, never saw the pass coming and continued downfield. The only player who did see the pass coming was Oakland LB Thomas Howard, who took it 66 yards the other way for the touchdown. There was also a curious play late in the game on which Rivers attempted a short pass to LaDainian Tomlinson out of the backfield, only to see the ball bounce off of Tomlinson before he ever got his head turned around. That play itself isn't noteworthy, but what is noteworthy is that that particular play has happened several times already this season, where Tomlinson goes out on a route and has the ball thrown off his body before he even knows it's coming. That rarely, if ever, happened a year ago.

Those two miscues aside, Rivers did what needed to be done. He completed two-thirds of his passes while averaging nearly eight yards per attempt. He was given adequate time in the pocket to find his receivers, and with Tomlinson chewing up chunks of yardage on the ground it was much easier to find open receivers underneath. Rivers threw two balls that nearly resulted in touchdowns. The first was a pass completion down the seam to Craig Davis, but the rookie wideout was tackled down at the five yard line. The second was a fade to the near corner to TE Antonio Gates, but the pass was broken up just at the last second. The only other time Rivers threw a pass into the end zone was on a deep ball to WR Vincent Jackson in the second half, but that ball was nearly intercepted by CB Fabian Washington.

Week 8 - We didn't get to see a ton from Rivers in this game, as he threw just eleven total passes on the afternoon. But he made most of them count, with three of those throws going for touchdowns. Now, while his stat line will look good for his fantasy owners, the reality is that he didn't actually play all that well. The first touchdown pass went to TE Antonio Gates down the seam. Gates had broken free of all defenders and was wide open downfield. The pass from Rivers was extremely wobbly and barely made it to Gates. He had to adjust to the awkward pass while waiting for it to come down with defenders bearing down on him. Then, he had to turn upfield and take it the rest of the way for the score. Rivers could have made things a lot easier by putting it a bit more downfield.

On the second Gates touchdown, it was more of a fantastic effort by the big tight end rather than anything Rivers did. He threw a quick slant, and Gates did the rest. Finally, on the touchdown pass to Chris Chambers, Rivers found him over the middle on a cross and Chambers simply followed his blockers the rest of the way into the end zone for the score. About the only time Rivers could have made a big play on his own was on a deep pass down the left sideline to Chambers. He had broken free of the defense and was wide open for what should have been a 65 yard touchdown pass. But the Rivers throw was well overthrown beyond Chambers, and it fell harmlessly incomplete. It wasn't all bad for Rivers, as he didn't throw any interceptions and finally got over his troubling trend of playing poorly at home. It's just that luck was on his side far more than anything else, and the talent around him was the much bigger reason for his success in this game.

Week 9 - As if the final stats (45% completion percentage, 4.7 yards per pass) aren't telling enough, it was even more evident watching this game that Philip Rivers was awful. There is a laundry list of things he did wrong, and that's before getting into his constant complaining to the officials after nearly every offensive play in the second half. Facing the league's worst pass defense coming in, most expected a banner day. Instead, he had one of the worst games of his pro career. At one point, he threw ten consecutive incomplete passes. And at this point, if you can't rely on him against a pass defense like this, then who exactly can you trust him against?

He nearly hooked up with WR Vincent Jackson for what would have been a long touchdown in the first half, but the pass was slightly underthrown. Despite Jackson beating his defender by several steps, he had to slow down and wait for the pass to get to him. It was knocked away at the last moment. The interception he later threw was a case of trying to force a pass in traffic to Antonio Gates, and was delivered off balance and without any clear direction. Rivers has really regressed in his second full season as a starter, his mechanics have looked completely out of whack, and his stat line is only healthy at times because of some sparkling plays after the catch by players like Antonio Gates and LaDainian Tomlinson. As we've mentioned several times already this season, Rivers and Tomlinson once again had a moment late in the game where Tomlinson ran a route out into the flat and Rivers threw a pass that hit him in the back before the running back had time to turn around and find it. If it happened once or twice, you could chalk it up to isolated cases of miscommunication. But it has become almost an every-game situation between these two, with no signs of stopping. In and of itself, it might not be a huge issue. But with the team struggling, mistakes like this are magnified and they are more or less an indicator of the state of the offense on the whole. Before you think all hope is lost for Rivers, there were two impressive plays he made on the day. One was when he showed a tremendous amount of strength in fighting off would-be tacklers in the end zone to avoid a safety. Another was on a crisp sideline pass to Chris Chambers that threaded the needle beautifully between several defenders. That is perhaps one of the more maddening issues with Rivers -- that he can look so poor for an entire game, and then suddenly deliver a pass into such a space that would make Peyton Manning proud.

Rivers lost a 40 yard completion to Chambers late in the game when Vincent Jackson was whistled for an illegal formation penalty. He also nearly hooked up with TE Antonio Gates for a touchdown on the last drive of the afternoon. Rivers delivered a pass into the end zone that Gates momentarily had in his possession, but it was ripped from his hands for an incompletion. On the very next pass, Rivers again had Gates open in the back of the end zone, but the pass was tipped away at the last moment by Cedric Griffin.

Week 10 - Rivers completed 13 of 24 passes for 104 yards with no touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. He struggled to stretch the field against the Colts cover two scheme not attempting one pass over 20 yards, and did not look confident in the pocket with pressure in his face. At one point the Chargers had a 23-0 lead mid way through the second quarter, but the Colts were able to stack the box and keep the Chargers from moving the ball, since the air attack was no threat, eventually allowing them back into the game. Near the beginning of the fourth quarter with the Colts having just scored to close it to a 23-14 deficit, Rivers dropped back to pass deep in his own end, and as he went to throw the ball it slipped out of his hand as the pressure approached. It had been raining off and for most of the game. Laying on the ground Rivers made a last effort to punch the ball out of the back of the endzone, but Colts linebacker Gary Brackett was able to pounce on the fumble for a touchdown, closing the gap to 23-21. Handed such a large lead early, it was concerning that Rivers couldn't get anything going in this game.

Week 11 - Despite decent enough passing stats, Rivers never looked comfortable for a long stretch in this game. There were random occasions when he looked outstanding, such as his bullet pass to TE Antonio Gates for a touchdown or his perfect zip pass down the middle of the zone to Gates for 24 yards. But there were far more instances of missed opportunities and misfired passes. A lot of it wasn't even his fault, as Jacksonville always seemed to have at least one defender that made it through the line unblocked. But even when given time, Rivers didn't seem to have very much in the way of accuracy. His deep balls were underthrown, his short passes were overthrown, and his interceptions were two of the worst passes you'll see a quarterback make in a big spot this season. The first one was simply launched downfield on the run, and sailed well over the head of any potential intended targets. And the second one came as the Chargers attempted to mount a game-tying comeback drive late in the fourth quarter. What they got instead was a pass intended for WR Legedu Naanee that actually looked to be intended for the defender, S Sammy Knight. Rivers tried to keep his emotions in check for the most part, and this wasn't the screaming, out of control frenzy that we've seen in recent weeks. But that didn't make him any more effective; just a bit quieter.

Week 12 - Rivers had his best game of the year. He was accurate with his throws, completing 71.4% of his passes for 7.11 yards per attempt. His starting targets saw the most balls, with Gates leading the way with eight, while Tomlinson, Chambers, and Jackson all had at least six. Rivers hit Gates for two touchdowns and Chambers for one. On all three of the scores the receiver was wide open. Rivers also had a couple of scrambles for minimal gains.

Week 13 - Rivers once again was very up and down. At times, he showed the immaturity that has plagued him throughout this season, such as when he flung the ball towards the ground after he had a pass batted down at the line (the flip of the ball resulted in a penalty against his team). He also made a horrid decision on an interception by CB Ty Law. But other times, such as the 38 yard touchdown pass to Vincent Jackson, he put the ball absolutely on the money where it needed to be.

The afternoon began inauspiciously for Rivers, as he was sacked on the very first play from scrimmage. He would be sacked twice more before the game was over, and he faced a pretty stout pass rush from Kansas City for much of the first half. On the Chargers' second possession, Rivers missed an opportunity for a long touchdown pass to Chris Chambers when he underthrew him down the sideline. Chambers was WIDE open and had gotten a good five yards beyond the last defender and was streaking downfield uncovered. Rivers, facing an oncoming pass rush, delivered the ball downfield but it hung up for a bit. Chambers had to wait a long time for it to get to him, and he was tackled almost immediately. So, the Chargers had to settle for a 37 yard pass play rather than a 47 yard touchdown. That drive resulted in a Nate Kaeding field goal. Rivers later had another opportunity for a long passing touchdown on a flea flicker. He heaved the ball to TE Antonio Gates in the end zone, but Gates was double covered on the play. Rivers failed to see a wide open Vincent Jackson down the seam for what would've been an easy score. Rivers and Jackson DID eventually hook up on a beautiful 38 yard touchdown midway through the second quarter to tie the game at ten apiece.

After halftime, the Chargers really took the air out of the ball and opted to let LaDainian Tomlinson grind out the victory for them. Rivers attempted just five passes in the entire second half, and they were all screens and dump-offs for short yardage (three passes went to Tomlinson, one went to TE Brandon Manumaleuna, and one to FB Lorenzo Neal).

Week 14 - It's rare that a quarterback can alternately play so horrifically and so inspiring all in a span of one game -- or in this case, one possession. Philip Rivers was having one of his worst games of the season. Check that, Philip Rivers was having one of the worst games of anyone's season. He was putting up Ryan Leaf-type numbers (6-14, 37 yards, 0 touchdowns, 2 interceptions). He looked like he didn't have a clue out there, and to top it all off he had been injured during a toss play to LaDainian Tomlinson on which Rivers had his knee rolled up. He couldn't even put enough pressure on his leg to get himself off the field, though he didn't look to be in a lot of pain or anything. In fact, he was able to jog off the field, albeit with a limp, just before halftime. He returned for the second half with his knee braced up and ready to go. But the results were mostly disastrous.

He continued making poor throws and poor decisions. He had little time to pass, and when he did have time he almost seemed to be expecting a rush that wasn't there and he became rather jumpy. He overthrew Vincent Jackson on a corner fade in the end zone, and later underthrew Jackson badly on a deep ball downfield that was intercepted. Take it for what it's worth, but things got so bad that at one point the CBS cameras caught a shot of Tomlinson sitting alone on the bench. When Rivers came over to the bench and sat down next to him, Tomlinson immediately popped up out of his seat and walked away without ever acknowledging that Rivers was there.

Things were seemingly smoothed over later on when Rivers made his first outstanding play of the game. Facing a blitzing Kyle Vanden Bosch right in his face, Rivers lofted a pass high over the defender to a wide open Tomlinson in the flat for an easy score. Later, Rivers would again be tied up by Vanden Bosch on a desperation pass attempt to Tomlinson along the sideline. Vanden Bosch had Rivers all but wrapped up, but the quarterback on one good leg had enough strength and awareness to heave it perfectly down the sideline to Tomlinson for a catch. The call was reviewed and eventually ruled incomplete, but it was truly an amazing pass to make with someone hanging all over him. Rivers then faced a fourth down play with the game on the line and again made a tough pass over the middle to Chris Chambers. That play was also reviewed and looked to be an incomplete pass, but there was no conclusive replay of the play so the original call stood. Ten plays later, Rivers lofted a jump ball to the corner of the end zone for TE Antonio Gates that brought San Diego all the way back and tied the game at 17. The overtime mostly consisted of LaDainian Tomlinson's running heroics, but make no mistake that Rivers was the catalyst in even getting the Chargers to the overtime period.

Week 15 - Rivers did exactly what the Chargers hoped he'd do. He managed the offense, didn't take any foolish chances downfield, made the passes they needed him to make, stayed healthy, and did a great job of handing the ball to LaDainian Tomlinson and letting him do his thing. Rivers' stats were solid, and that's with throwing just five passes after halftime (completing three). His touchdown pass to TE Brandon Manumaleuna was a result of the Lions defense biting hard on the play action fake. Manumaleuna was wide open in the end zone for the easy score, which put the Chargers up 34-7 and all but ended the need to throw the ball very much. Rivers was eventually replaced by Billy Volek, who did a fine job of turning and handing the ball off to backup RB Darren Sproles. It was clear during the game that Rivers' knee is still not 100%, and FOX cameras showed a still shot before the game of his bare knees -- it was pretty obvious that the left one is still extremely swollen, and it'll be interesting to see how the Chargers use the next two weeks. Now that the division title is wrapped up, they could opt to use the next two weeks to rest certain players in anticipation of the playoffs. On the other hand, they can still get the three seed if they win each of their next two games. So how much Rivers plays over the next two games (home for Denver, and at Oakland) is still very much up in the air.

Week 16 - If nothing else, Rivers has proven to his teammates and the rest of the world that he plays with fire and intensity. In this game, however, he almost let it go a bit too far. Rivers was jawing with CB Champ Bailey for much of the contest, and by the end of the game he had a few comments that he was shouting across the field to fellow QB Jay Cutler. Rather than letting his performance speak for itself, Rivers engaged in shouting matches with the opposition seemingly for the fun of it. He was seen on the sidelines almost laughing at the Denver players, and it doesn't bode well for settling any future bad blood between the two clubs. As for his play on the field, he completed 68% of his passes, didn't turn the ball over, and spread the ball evenly to a number of receivers. The touchdown pass he threw was more the result of a great effort by Chris Chambers than anything Rivers did. And he had several players make a couple of remarkable grabs along the sideline that also helped to beef up his stat line (not to mention sustain the drives). So it's not as if Rivers played flawlessly; a lot of his production came courtesy of him getting the ball to the right people and letting them do what they do with the ball in-hand. But a lot of times, in this offense, that's really all that's required. At this point in the season and in his career, it would appear that Rivers may finally be learning that.

Week 17 - Once again, Rivers turned in a solid, efficient performance and avoided the repeated turnovers that plagued him earlier this season. While Rivers did fumble the ball once, in truth it was more of a great play by DT Warren Sapp for bursting through the line and disrupting the timing on the handoff exchange between Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson. Rivers was also nearly intercepted by Robert Thomas off of a deflection early in the third quarter, but the ball was just out of reach. For the most part, the offensive line afforded Rivers plenty of time early on, though he still had a bit of a tendency to hop just as he released the football. This could be a result of his left knee injury suffered several weeks ago (an injury that clearly still bothers Rivers, especially when he is rolling out to his left). He is obviously not 100% and it's unlikely that he will be 100% at any point this season. But he continues to gut it out and play with a very bulky brace that has severely affected his mobility (which wasn't the best to begin with). One pass he looked fine on was a bomb to WR Chris Chambers that should have been caught for a 61 yard touchdown, but the receiver allowed it to slip through his hands for an incompletion. The two players later connected from 19 yards out.

It wasn't until late in the second quarter that Rivers really began stepping into his throws and firing the ball downfield. One area of concern is that just about every throw he made to a receiver required the receiver to jump and fully extend himself to come down with the pass. It's possible that this was done by design to take advantage of the receivers' leaping ability. Or it's possible that Rivers was simply 'off' with his passes, and he's putting all of his receivers at risk for serious injury by not hitting them in stride. In any case, it came in handy on the Chambers touchdown pass, because Chambers barely out-jumped DB Fabian Washington in the back corner of the end zone for the score that put the Chargers up for good.

Another area of concern (or excitement, depending on how one looks at it) is Rivers' insistence on mixing it up with the other team and the opposition's fans. It's one thing to get loud and yell at the other team at your own field, as Rivers did a week ago; in this game, he was riling up the crowd and calling them out after they cheered when he was slow to get up following a big hit. Inciting Jay Cutler in Week 16 was bad enough; angering the entire Black Hole may not be the smartest thing a quarterback can do. Rivers was out of the game by the early part of the fourth quarter with San Diego having established a solid lead.

Week 18 - Rivers proved his mettle in this contest, coming back from some early game struggles to lead his team on three separate scoring drives in the second half and claim the Chargers' first playoff win since the 1994 AFC Championship game (played in January 1995). The afternoon began inauspiciously, as Rivers fumbled on his very first drop-back of the game (the ball was recovered by Tomlinson). Soon afterwards, he made a bad pass in the end zone on a deep ball to Chris Chambers that was well underthrown and resulted in an interception. He had plenty of time to throw it and managed to set his feet well, but the pass still failed to reach its intended target. Soon after, Rivers was seen yelling at someone on the sideline, perhaps Chambers, and seemingly blaming him for not doing more to knock the ball away.

At halftime, several CBS analysts put at least some of the blame for the interception on Chambers, but at the end of the day it was still a poorly thrown pass. It was, however, one of the only poorly thrown passes Rivers would make all game. He hit Chambers in stride down the seam for 30. He hit Jackson down the sideline for 32 after a terrific pump fake. He hit a wide open Chambers deep downfield for 39 when Chambers wasn't even the original target of the play call. He hit Jackson in stride for a 25 yard touchdown. And perhaps most importantly, the Chargers said to a man that the biggest thing they saw from Rivers was that he maintained his poise and really grew as a leader. HC Norv Turner commented on it after the game, saying that the plan all season long was to not be a one-dimensional team that relies solely on LaDainian Tomlinson. As evidenced by this game, the Chargers can now find ways to win even when their star running back is struggling. And a lot of that had to do with the outstanding play of Rivers.

Aside from the interception, the only blemishes on Rivers' performances are minor. One a pass play early in the third quarter and facing a third and four from the Titans' five yard line, he opted to throw a pass to Vincent Jackson for three yards. He never saw LaDainian Tomlinson wide open in the right flat with just one man to beat for the touchdown (and the one man wasn't really all that close to Tomlinson, either). The other wasn't Rivers' fault at all, but rather a product of bad luck fantasy-wise. He threw a pass to Tomlinson early in the fourth quarter that resulted in a nine yard gain and a tackle at about the one foot line. Tomlinson nearly broke the plane, but was tackled just shy and cost Rivers a score. Tomlinson would go on to score on the ensuing play.

Week 19 - There are two ways to look at the performance of Rivers. On the one hand, he threw three touchdown passes and continued to bring his team back from the precipice of defeat, played valiantly and fought through every single second on every single play. On the other hand, he left the game with a knee injury late in the third quarter and did not return. On his way to the locker room to get checked out, he was jawing with the fans pretty much the entire time. He then backed up his talk by...remaining on the sidelines the entire fourth quarter while Billy Volek engineered the game winning touchdown drive. Rivers stated afterwards that he could have returned to the game, but the fact is that he didn't. And when the final seconds ticked off the clock, Rivers decided to tick off the fans some more, goading them into some trash talk behind the San Diego bench. Chargers fans love the fiery Rivers, but he is fast gaining a reputation around the league as something of a pest and a big talker. As long as he keeps winning playoff games, however, it's unlikely that very many people in southern California will mind. As for his play on the field, it's almost a shame that he tends to make the story about his shenanigans because his play has really grown to new heights recently. He made some absolutely perfect throws, notably the touchdown passes to Vincent Jackson and Chris Chambers. He also completed a key third down pass play to Chris Chambers late in the third quarter and constructively used his emotion to get his teammates fired up after the play. That drive led to the Darren Sproles touchdown, Rivers' final play of the afternoon.

While he says he could have returned to the game, he'll still be officially listed as questionable for the AFC Championship game. However, judging from his sideline demeanor and his competitive nature, it would be quite a shock to us if he didn't suit up to play next Sunday afternoon in New England. At one point, he was also having his right (throwing) hand looked at on the sideline, but it was never mentioned again and didn't seem to pose any sorts of problems for him.

Week 20 - It was reported earlier in the week that Rivers may have suffered a partially torn ACL in last week's win over the Colts, and he was clearly limited although he stayed in the game. The Patriots got a decent amount of pressure on him at times, but he was still sacked only once. And on one of his interceptions, replays seemed to suggest that Rivers was actually tripped while he was in mid-pass, which could have resulted in the ball being underthrown for the pick. Despite the turnovers, Rivers actually played fairly well. He didn't light up the stat sheet as he did a week ago, and there were some who were calling on Billy Volek to come off the bench and replace Rivers, but there was no question that Rivers was healthy enough to be out there. CBS commentator Phil Simms remarked that there wasn't one point in the game where he watched Rivers and thought the team needed to get him out of the game. That being said, his game wasn't without flaws. He missed a wide open Vincent Jackson in the back of the end zone because he was trying to avoid a pass rush from behind. While that's not entirely his fault, one would think that there are a few quarterbacks who would have made that read. On the other interception, Rivers didn't fully step into his throw and the result was a badly underthrown pass down the sideline to Chris Chambers that was easily picked off. Additionally, while Rivers did do a good job of avoiding sacks, on several occasions that meant he was throwing off his back foot and allowing passes to float to his receivers rather than being fired at them. His final numbers won't look great, but he probably won a lot of respect in the locker room for gutting it out on two bad knees and also for the way he handled himself. It's worth noting that he didn't allow himself to be goaded into any extra curricular situations with either the fans or the opposition, and obviously there's no way of knowing if or how much a more subdued Rivers equals a less effective one.